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Anonymous
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An excerpt out of a Jan 25, 2006 Missoulian article:
On another issue affecting Montana, Schweitzer lashed out again at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the most recent mad cow disease case in Canada. In the past the governor has referred to the department as "a bunch of stooges working for the multinational meat companies," and he said this week the USDA still does not represent the interests of Montana consumers and producers.
"I'm very proud of our legislature for proactively passing the country-of-origin labeling," Schweitzer said. "Congress has passed it for the last five, six years, then they refuse to enforce it."
Schweitzer said if the federal government isn't enforcing national country-of-origin labeling by the end of 2006, "we will in Montana," something he says will give the state a competitive advantage.
"We have safe beef in Montana, vegetarian beef," Schweitzer pointed out. "We're not feeding bone meal, we are very low risk of having BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in our herds in Montana, so when people are looking at a safe, wholesome beef product the ability of putting 'Made in Montana,' 'Made in the USA' on our beef products will give us a leg up in the market."
Schweitzer said the USDA never got to the bottom of the problem with Canadian beef when it suspended imports from that country in May 2003.
Saying the feeding of bone meal to cattle is one root of the BSE problem, Schweitzer said Canada has suspended the use of those kinds of feeds for seven years.
"This cow was 6 years old, so it is clear they are not enforcing their own rules," Schweitzer added. "They still have operators that are cutting corners in the feed business and using cheap protein and calcium sources.
"So I think we need to put the hammer down," Schweitzer said, "and say, 'Look, if you're not enforcing your rule - and you clearly aren't' - then we need to step in and stop this importation of these cattle because we have a wholesome product, we have a quality product, and we're losing our market share all over the world because of some bad actors in Canada."
In the wake of the latest buffalo hunt near Yellowstone National Park, Schweitzer also this week called for a review of the controversial interagency bison management plan and the ensuing memorandum of understanding among the park, the USDA and the state of Montana created before he took office. He said negotiations did not take things like Montana's bison hunt into consideration.
Noting that his Republican predecessors - Marc Racicot and Judy Martz - did not allow bison hunts for 12 years, Schweitzer said, "We bit the bullet, and we stood up and said, 'We're going to get this right,' and we created more hunting range for the buffalo to move over.
"We've created what I think is a successful buffalo hunt and it'll be more successful in the future," he said.
The second thing Schweitzer said wasn't considered when issuing the memorandum of understanding is that the USDA has pulled brucellosis-free status from the neighboring states of Wyoming and Idaho.
"I don't want us to be the third state," Schweitzer said, "so I'm asking USDA - APHIS, their Animal Plant Health Inspection Service - to take up more slack in managing this bison herd with the national park.
"These are park bison. This is a federal problem, and they keep calling on our Department of Livestock to bail them out," Schweitzer complained. "I'm saying, 'You start doing your job and we will do ours.' "
On another issue affecting Montana, Schweitzer lashed out again at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the most recent mad cow disease case in Canada. In the past the governor has referred to the department as "a bunch of stooges working for the multinational meat companies," and he said this week the USDA still does not represent the interests of Montana consumers and producers.
"I'm very proud of our legislature for proactively passing the country-of-origin labeling," Schweitzer said. "Congress has passed it for the last five, six years, then they refuse to enforce it."
Schweitzer said if the federal government isn't enforcing national country-of-origin labeling by the end of 2006, "we will in Montana," something he says will give the state a competitive advantage.
"We have safe beef in Montana, vegetarian beef," Schweitzer pointed out. "We're not feeding bone meal, we are very low risk of having BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in our herds in Montana, so when people are looking at a safe, wholesome beef product the ability of putting 'Made in Montana,' 'Made in the USA' on our beef products will give us a leg up in the market."
Schweitzer said the USDA never got to the bottom of the problem with Canadian beef when it suspended imports from that country in May 2003.
Saying the feeding of bone meal to cattle is one root of the BSE problem, Schweitzer said Canada has suspended the use of those kinds of feeds for seven years.
"This cow was 6 years old, so it is clear they are not enforcing their own rules," Schweitzer added. "They still have operators that are cutting corners in the feed business and using cheap protein and calcium sources.
"So I think we need to put the hammer down," Schweitzer said, "and say, 'Look, if you're not enforcing your rule - and you clearly aren't' - then we need to step in and stop this importation of these cattle because we have a wholesome product, we have a quality product, and we're losing our market share all over the world because of some bad actors in Canada."
In the wake of the latest buffalo hunt near Yellowstone National Park, Schweitzer also this week called for a review of the controversial interagency bison management plan and the ensuing memorandum of understanding among the park, the USDA and the state of Montana created before he took office. He said negotiations did not take things like Montana's bison hunt into consideration.
Noting that his Republican predecessors - Marc Racicot and Judy Martz - did not allow bison hunts for 12 years, Schweitzer said, "We bit the bullet, and we stood up and said, 'We're going to get this right,' and we created more hunting range for the buffalo to move over.
"We've created what I think is a successful buffalo hunt and it'll be more successful in the future," he said.
The second thing Schweitzer said wasn't considered when issuing the memorandum of understanding is that the USDA has pulled brucellosis-free status from the neighboring states of Wyoming and Idaho.
"I don't want us to be the third state," Schweitzer said, "so I'm asking USDA - APHIS, their Animal Plant Health Inspection Service - to take up more slack in managing this bison herd with the national park.
"These are park bison. This is a federal problem, and they keep calling on our Department of Livestock to bail them out," Schweitzer complained. "I'm saying, 'You start doing your job and we will do ours.' "
:roll: 
